MisterNeon , 18 days ago

There were several things other than that one form of human sacrifice. They would hold feasts & festivals, offer flowers & dough men made from amaranth, pray at midnight, create paper ornaments, burn copal, sing & dance, and would clean & maintain temples to show their devotion.

historyshapes OP , 18 days ago

@MisterNeon Of course! I loved learning about the Aztec culture while making this comic.

I listed some resources I used on the click-through link. Thanks for your reply.

-mert.

MisterNeon , 18 days ago

If you want a really dark follow up research Tlacaxipehualiztli for Xipe Totec.

bionicjoey , 18 days ago

"it was a rich and flourishing culture, but all anyone ever seems to remember are the societally sanctioned grisly murders"

MisterNeon , 17 days ago

The featherwork art produced was amazing.

cerement , 18 days ago

“The first band were those who took the part of Xipe Totec and went dressed in the skins of the war prisoners who were killed the previous day, so the fresh blood was still flowing.”

—Xipe Totec, “Our Lord the Flayed One”, god of agriculture

MisterNeon , 18 days ago

Hey I just brought that Teotl up. Fun fact: the skin wearing was a metaphor for maize in its husk.

ours , 18 days ago

That's one polyvalent god: agriculture, spring, metallurgy and war to name a few. In the context of skin wearing, the god of war role might be more relevant.

cerement , 18 days ago

• the skin wearing was a representation of the husk of corn
• the “god of war” was more adjacent – the “formal” god of war was Huitzilopochtli, “Hummingbird on the Left” (Aztec saw the hummingbird as a blood drinker)

ours , 18 days ago

That's some hardcore agriculture! They really put the agro in agriculture.

And the actual god of war represented by a bloodthirsty hummingbird. Fantastic.

Thanks for the Aztec facts.

cerement , 18 days ago

check your local nursery or garden center – you’ll find blood and bone meal in the fertilizer section

MisterNeon , 18 days ago

So butterflies and hummingbird wings were considered in the realm of war due to "Aztecs" observation that the beating of their wings look like the flickering of fire.